ILLUSTRATION + DESIGN

Once, while carrying my t-square & drafting portfolio on the 151 bus as we rambled our way along Michigan Avenue towards my graduate school classrooms, daydreaming, I noticed a familiar face out of the window. Dodging traffic, clutching her camel hair coat closed against the windy city, and clutching a manilla envelope, Oprah Winfrey, the newly minted morning talk show host, jaywalking. In a hurry.

Years and years and years later, swaddled amidst that same Chicago architecture that first piqued my inspiration to study the world of structure and habitat, design and beehive, I’ve watched life careen by, not unlike that rush hour traffic along the Magnificent Mile.

Most of the time I’m tearing through the minutes, making as much of the ticking clock as I can muster, be in swimming in my happiest days with my once little ones, leaping into a new sketch or making furious notes about the newest brilliant idea that just popped into my head.

But on mornings like this, when the house is quiet, the dogs are still curled up and snoring, when I have the glorious treat of having 2 of my 3 children here at home, still abed after a late night of Shondaland, with a fresh warm mug of coffee by my side, I tilt towards my rearview mirror and wonder at it all.

So, with java raised towards the southeast, to that city where it all started, here’s to you. Here’s for landing me on my feet, keeping me moving, keeping me inspired, driven, creative, idea-hungry, nourished and climbing, always climbing.

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